Application of TiO2/Polyacrylamide Core-Shell Nanocomposite as an Additive for Controlling Rheological and Filtration Properties of Water-Based Drilling Fluid

Today, nanotechnology plays a strong role in advancing of various sciences. The oil and gas industries such as drilling industry are amended increasingly by using the nanoscale materials. The drilling fluids play an important role in the drilling operations, thus improving the performance of these fluids cause a significant increase in the efficiency. The present work aims to improve the rheological and filtration properties of the water-based drilling fluid by a core-shell nanocomposite additive. This additive was obtained through the inverse miniemulsion polymerization of acrylamide monomer as a shell and TiO2 nanoparticle as a core. The polymeric nanocomposite was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Results showed that the core-shell structure of the TiO2/polyacrylamide (PAM) with an average particle size of less than 100 nm was produced through this process. The experimental tests of modified water-based drilling fluid (MWDF) were studied by using the rotational viscometer and low temperature and pressure filter press apparatus. The results showed that the MWDF exhibit shear thinning behavior. Moreover, the core-shell additive causes to an increase in the viscosity and yield point, and a decrease in the fluid loss and filter cake thickness.